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赌场现在看见一个更好的选择网上赌博
由Barry梅耶尔
出版日期：2010年10月3号
许多国家的最大的赌场，长期反对赌博喜欢上了互联网扑克游戏，现在不得不三思。
虽然网上赌博是与数百万美国人流行，它是在美国非法的，赌场业认为这是一种威胁。
但是，贸易团体的代表一样哈拉斯娱乐公司，米高梅集团和永利度假村赌场主要是对一项提案，将要求国会合法化至少一些在线赌博形式工作，该集团的首席执行官说。
该组中，美国博彩协会发表了一份声明中表明的春天在线赌博，可适当调节 - 首次公开表明了其强硬立场正在软化。
行政长官弗兰克J Fahrenkopf小，在电话中表示，该协会还没有就其建议的法例的详情，包括如何从互联网赌博的收入将落户在接受采访时征税。 “我们一直在做某件事情，”他说，“继续努力吧。”
赌博的专家说，这是任何赌场可能支持的合法化将限制在互联网扑克，因为它被认为是最不威胁到砖和水泥赌场。互联网扑克已经在赌场的一些业内人士的支持，并作为一个新的收入和利润丰厚的赌场公司源泉。
美国国会已通过代表重达巴尼弗兰克，马萨诸塞州民主党法案，这将赌博合法化的互联网体育博彩外的所有类型。今年七月，众议院金融服务委员会批准的弗兰克法案，但大部分行业分析师给它一点机会，在充分代表大会通过，因为它是由一些大赌场和其他赌博利益的反对。
通过开赌场搬到网上赌博可能带来到国会游说，辩论一项新的强大力量的大门。它也最有可能加剧各种利益的州议会打架赌博 - 群，包括彩票，赛马场和印第安部落 - 推立法者抓住移动到网络赌博的州多美元。
加利福尼亚州，佛罗里达州和新泽西州最近作出的努力失败合法化互联网上的赌场式游戏投注，巴莱斯特拉马克说，该BolaVerde媒体集团，在圣路易斯的咨询公司，跟踪互联网赌博董事。现行法律并没有阻止通过互联网在国家赌博，但这样做将需要跨州在联邦法律的改变。
在一系列活动表明，国家将继续努力，巴莱斯特拉先生说。 “赌博扩张通常在困难的时候发生，”他说。
一段时间以来，大型赌场运营商一直对行业分割的方法上互联网赌博。
喜欢哈拉的，它积极支持合法化的一些公司，都积极投资于软件公司或在网上赌博涉及海外业务。哈拉的，经营流行的世界扑克系列，也已建立一个潜在的客户群。上个月，该公司今天在美国刊登了整版广告，邀请读者参加一项事件nongambling网络版的一部分。
但像其他运营商永利度假村认为，网上赌博，其中除其他外，通过减少赌场出席蚕食利润。近年来，赌场运营商都试图从投资将产生大量变成“度假胜地”的功能，精美的餐饮和其他设施，烟雾缭绕的房间参观赌博收入。
对永利度假村，斯蒂芬A永利，行政长官也表示在回答记者的提问，他认为去年是“不可能”，规范互联网赌博。
然而，该公司最近发表评论时要求，出台了更加温和的声明。 “永利度假村监视任何立法活动，联邦或州，这涉及到我们的行业，”声明说。 “我们让这些法例通过后的判断。”
赌博业分析师塞巴斯蒂安辛克莱说，在这样的心永利度假村赌场经营者的变化也并不奇怪，因为涉及的利害关系。扑克的互联网业界最大的网站之一，扑克之星，这对在爱尔兰海马恩岛经营，估计10亿美元的年收入，根据扑克分析，在纽约的咨询公司。
“当业界正与这种性质，是一个游戏换一个模式转变面临的东西，第一个反应就是车圈，以保护您的业务，”辛克莱先生说。 “但是，随着时间的变化。”
内华达州参议员里德，参议院多数党领袖，也可能会重新考虑他反对互联网上赌博。里德先生的一个发言人说，他仍在审查互联网的问题，还没有决定。上个月，里诺宪报杂志报道，在美国内华达州赌场几个较小的经营者留下的，他准备支持一项法案合法化的在线扑克的印象与里德先生，前州赌博监管机构会议。
比尔休斯，在这些行动的一个营销总监，珀米尔度假村赌场在里诺说，小运营商看成是对利润和就业的威胁在线扑克。通常情况下，扑克约占2赌场的收入比例，但一些运营商抗衡的合法化将很快导致其他赌场游戏的在线版本。 “它打开了在门缝扩大到所有类型的在线游戏，”休斯先生说。
先生Fahrenkopf，行业协会的赌场，他说，集团开始大约两年看一个在网上赌博，包括税收，网络安全和消费者保护有关的一些问题密切合作。
他说，当一个大转折来到由行业官员小组研究的结论是不会削减在线扑克赌场的利润，一些运营商所担心的程度。
扑克分析说，数据表明，它编制之间存在着那些在赌场赌博，那些在网上打扑克显着差异。其中，它说，人们谁发挥扑克在线更有可能是男性和不到那些有钱谁访问了赌场。
Casinos Now See Online Gambling as a Better Bet
By BARRY MEIER
Published: October 3, 2010
Many of the country’s largest casinos, long opposed to gambling games like poker on the Internet, are now having second thoughts.
Although online gambling is popular with millions of Americans, it is illegal in the United States, and the casino industry has considered it a threat.
But a trade group that represents major casinos like Harrah’s Entertainment, MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts is working on a proposal that would ask Congress to legalize at least some form of online gambling, the group’s chief executive said.
The group, the American Gaming Association, issued a statement in the spring suggesting that online gambling could be properly regulated — the first public indication that its hard-line stance was softening.
The chief executive, Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., said in an interview by phone that the association had not settled on the details of its proposed legislation, including how the proceeds from Internet gambling would be taxed. “We have been working on something,” he said, “and continue to work on it.”
Gambling specialists said it was likely that any casino-supported legalization would be limited to Internet poker because it was considered the least threatening to brick-and-mortar casinos. Internet poker already had the backing of some in the casino industry, and was seen as a new and lucrative source of revenue for the casino companies.
Congress has been weighing a bill by Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, that would legalize all types of Internet gambling apart from sports betting. In July, the House Financial Services Committee approved the Frank bill, but most industry analysts give it little chance of passage in the full Congress because it is opposed by the big casinos and some other gambling interests.
The move by casinos to open the door to online gambling could bring a powerful new lobbying force into Congressional debate. It would also most likely intensify fights in state legislatures as various gambling interests — groups that include lotteries, racetracks and Indian tribes — push lawmakers to grab more gambling dollars for states by moving to the Web.
California, Florida and New Jersey recently made unsuccessful efforts to legalize Internet betting on casino-style games, said Mark Balestra, the director of the BolaVerde Media Group, a consulting firm in St. Louis that tracks Internet gambling. Current law does not prevent in-state gambling over the Internet but to do so across state lines would require a change in federal law.
The flurry of activity suggests the state efforts will continue, Mr. Balestra said. “Gambling expansion typically happens during difficult times,” he said.
For some time, operators of large casinos have been split on the industry’s approach to Internet gambling.
Some companies like Harrah’s, which has actively supported legalization, have aggressively invested in software companies or businesses involved in Internet gambling overseas. Harrah’s, which operates the popular World Series of Poker, has also been building a prospective customer base. Last month, the company ran a full-page advertisement in USA Today, inviting readers to take part in a nongambling Internet version of the event.
But other operators like Wynn Resorts have argued that online gambling would, among other things, cannibalize profits by reducing casino attendance. In recent years, casino operators have sought to generate added revenue from visitors by investing heavily to turn smoke-filled gambling rooms into “resorts” that feature fine dining and other amenities.
The chief executive of Wynn Resorts, Stephen A. Wynn, also stated last year in response to a reporter’s questions that he thought it “would be impossible” to regulate Internet gambling.
However, the company, when recently asked for comment, issued a more temperate statement. “Wynn Resorts monitors any legislative activity, federal or state, that pertains to our industry,” the statement said. “We make judgments after such legislation is passed.”
A gambling industry analyst, Sebastian Sinclair, said that a change of heart among casino operators like Wynn Resorts should not be surprising, given the stakes involved. One of the Internet poker industry’s biggest sites, Pokerstars, which operates on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, has estimated annual revenues of $1 billion, according to Poker Analytics, a consulting firm in New York.
“When any industry is confronted with something of this nature, a game changer that is a paradigm shift, the first reaction is to circle the wagons to protect your business,” Mr. Sinclair said. “But then, that changes over time.”
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader, might also be rethinking his opposition to Internet gambling. A spokesman for Mr. Reid said he was still reviewing the Internet issue and had not decided. Last month, The Reno Gazette Journal reported that several operators of smaller casinos in Nevada had left a meeting with Mr. Reid, a former state gambling regulator, with the impression that he was prepared to support a bill legalizing online poker.
Bill Hughes, the marketing director of one of those operations, the Peppermill Resort Casino in Reno, said that smaller operators viewed online poker as a threat to profits and jobs. Typically, poker accounts for about 2 percent of a casino’s revenues but some operators contend its legalization would soon lead to online versions of other casino games. “It opens the crack in the door to expand to all types of gaming online,” Mr. Hughes said.
Mr. Fahrenkopf, of the casino trade association, said that his group started about two years to look closely at a number of issues involved in Internet gambling, including taxation, online security and consumer protection.
He said that the big turnabout came when a study by a panel of industry officials concluded that online poker would not cut casino profits to the degree some operators had feared.
Poker Analytics said that data it compiled indicated that there were significant differences between those gambling in casinos and those playing poker on the Web. Among them, it said, was that people who played poker online were more likely to be male and less wealthy than those who visited casinos. |
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发表于 2010-10-20 05:54
